


What if Vampire Two

by stellations



Series: What If Three Times [3]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 00:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5688466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellations/pseuds/stellations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>What if Jenna had been turned into a vampire and lived through the ritual. Option Two</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Klaus

**Author's Note:**

> What if Jenna had been turned into a vampire and lived through the ritual. Option Two

Of all the times Jenna had been to Alaric's apartment, this was by far the least enjoyable. She didn't like the stale feeling she was getting from the place and Damon's hesitance to touch the door - vampire or no - didn't really help. She shot him a look and knocked on the door, realizing where her place in this plan had come. She was able to cross the threshold where he couldn't. Also, her voice would be less threatening than his, should Klaus actually be there.

"Ric? Are you here?"

Her nerves hammered through her veins. Could Damon really do anything if Klaus _was_ still in there?

Damon seemed disinterested in waiting, so he casually glanced around to be sure no one was nearby. Reaching for the doorknob, he just as casually broke the lock so the door swung open when Jenna pushed it. This revealed a young woman who looked so closely like Elena that Jenna gasped softly.

"Thank God," Katherine sighed.

"Wow… she really does look exactly like Elena," Jenna murmured, not really keen on moving any closer.

"Yeah. Thought you might be dead," Damon commented to Katherine.

"Unfortunately not," the other vampire replied dryly. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to see you," Damon answered, glancing back at Jenna. "If you're worried, you can leave. It won't be the first time I've had to walk home."

Jenna paused, looking from one vampire to the other. "Right. I'll see you back at the house." She let her eyes rest on Katherine once more before she headed out to the car again. Jenna wasn't even sure how to react to any of this anymore, especially where Katherine and Elena were concerned. She sighed to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot, not really feeling up to going straight back yet. When Stefan had come to pick her up, she'd left part of her thesis research in her room; she clearly remembered discovering a huge portion of her notes missing. Maybe she could go back to get them, even if she did risk running into John again. Pursing her lips tightly together, she turned the car in the direction of the house she had slowly come to consider hers instead of her sister and brother-in-law's. Funny how time would change things...

John was apparently gone when she got there and she was quite glad for that. She didn't want to deal with him today, too. Still, something didn't feel right as she entered the house, so she called Stefan, figuring he'd be done with Bonnie and Jeremy by now.

"Jenna?"

She didn't hear any voices with him, so she hoped he was alone. "Any word from Elena?"

At the very least, talking to someone while she looked for the rest of her thesis notes would be beneficial to her state of mind. Times like this, she almost wished she'd inherited her sister's organizational skills.

"Still nothing. What about you? Is something wrong?"

"No, I just-"

Jenna cut herself off as she heard footsteps outside her door. Ignoring Stefan calling her, she glanced through the doorway.

"I'm at the house. I wanted to grab the notes that I left."

"Jenna, it's not safe for you there."

She was starting to see what he meant as she turned back to her search. Finding the folder she needed, she grabbed it and turned to leave. A sharp yelp escaped her as she nearly ran headlong into someone and her eyes widened in fear.

"Jenna? Jenna!" her phone screeched at her, but all she could do was stare at the person in front of her.

"Isobel," she whispered, feeling her heart hammering in her chest as she backed up a few steps. "What do you want?"

"Iiii want you," the vampire responded in a sing-song voice, spending another few seconds watching Jenna back up before she sped forward. Stefan's voice had stopped yelling into the phone by then and Jenna could only hope he would make it before something happened.

Isobel was strong, stronger than anyone Jenna had come across before, and she found herself unable to wiggle out of the vampire's grip. She fought, though, as her phone and the folder of notes fell out of her hands, but it was no use. By the time Stefan arrived, Isobel had knocked her out and fled with her. All he would find were the pages scattered across the floor and Jenna's phone, right where she'd dropped them.

#

With Elijah's departure brought a new question for Elena. She frowned as she looked around the room, not really understanding what would keep her aunt away with so much noise going on, especially since Elena had brought Elijah back into the house.

"Stefan… where's Jenna?" she asked, moving further into the room after both Damon and Elijah had left.

Stefan looked away for a moment, making Elena immediately wary. He never did that unless he had something really bad to tell her. "Elena, why don't you come over here and sit down for a minute."

That _really_ didn't sound good. Elena frowned as fear welled up in her chest. "What happened?" she questioned carefully as she sat down on the couch next to Stefan.

"Jenna went out to the house today without telling anyone," he began, sending her sense of foreboding through the ceiling. "She called me while she was there."

"What was she doing? Where is she now?"

"She wanted to find her thesis notes… but someone else found her instead."

"What?" No… no, not Jenna. Please, not Jenna.

"Isobel got her. By the time I got there, all that was left was the folder of notes and her phone."

The latter item was produced as proof.

Tears streamed down Elena's cheeks and she shook her head, not willing to accept what this meant. "No. It can't be. Not Jenna." This was all her fault… but they'd been so careful! Why was Klaus attacking Jenna now?

"She's probably taking her to Klaus."

"Then we have to go get her!" Elena cried, trying to stand up again. Stefan reached up to pull her back, dropping the phone as he did so, but she fought his hold on her. "I can't just leave her with him! He'll kill her, Stefan!"

"He could be using her as bait, Elena!" Stefan protested, not letting her go, even as she struggled and sobbed as much as she had when she'd thought Bonnie had died. "If you go find her now, that's a dead giveaway that she means the most to you. And it's a sure way to make him kill her to keep you in line."

Elena sobbed helplessly. She hated this, hated being unable to do anything and feeling like everything she did was falling apart around her.

"We have to wait, Elena, and hope she'll be all right."

Elena shook her head, but she knew he was right. She had no choice if she wanted to be sure Jenna would be okay. If her aunt really was still alive, her best choice of survival was not to be found. No matter how much it crushed Elena not to do anything. She clung to Stefan, crying onto his shoulder and hoping, _hoping_ , that Jenna would be okay.

#

Jenna's head ached when she finally pried her eyes open again. At first, she couldn't tell where she was, but after a few minutes, she recognized the ceiling. How many times had she been in this bed, staring up at that ceiling with him? The realization of where she was brought her bolt upright, and she looked around in fear.

He was there. And so was Katherine.

Jenna scooted further back on the bed, as far as she could while still ignoring the way her head pounded. It was like having a hangover, but she knew she hadn't had anything to drink all day. Katherine shifted on her chair by the bar and Jenna took a shuddering breath of air. She didn't want to be here, not while Klaus was still inhabiting her boyfriend's body. But she felt so shaky, far worse than she had been earlier, even when Isobel had confronted her. What was going on? And where _was_ Isobel?

"She's awake," Katherine commented, sitting sulkily on her chair. Klaus was leaning against the cabinets by the sink, but as soon as Katherine spoke, he strode over to Jenna. She didn't really have anywhere else to go, so she just pressed herself against the headboard, especially worried as she noticed he had a knife in his hand.

"Don't worry," he assured her in that same soft, husky voice he'd been using, the one that reminded her so much of Alaric. "This isn't for you."

He simply smiled at her for a moment before he sliced his palm wide open. Jenna's eyes widened in shock as blood pooled on his hand. The sight awakened a hunger she couldn't dismiss. Even as afraid of him as she was, she couldn't resist the sight or the smell as he offered her the hand that was dripping bright red liquid onto the bed. The inward battle of wills was brief, but she wasn't strong enough to stop herself from grasping his hand and digging into it, drinking his blood and savoring the taste as though her life depended on it. Somehow she knew it did and that just made her hunger worse. The blood flowed through her body, changing it, warping her senses and feelings until everything was amplified.

Klaus pulled away and Jenna suddenly realized what had happened. She remembered Isobel forcing her to drink her vampire blood before they left the house and then nothing. Nothing until she woke up here. She shook her head, unable to voice how much she did _not_ want this.

"And now we have our second vampire option," Klaus announced to the room, walking away from Jenna and sounding way too pleased by this prospect. "Third, really, but I have other plans for you, Katerina."

Katherine lifted her chin defiantly. Still unable to fully articulate herself, Jenna scooted back against the bed, wiping her mouth off as she glared fearfully at Klaus. What did he want?

"And our other one is hiding," he continued, glancing to the other side of the apartment. "Come on out; don't be afraid, Isobel."

Isobel. Jenna sat up a little further on the bed and tucked her knees up to her chin. She did not want to be in the same room with her. Isobel stepped out of the bathroom then, a cautious look on her face rather than the mischievous one she'd worn when she'd ambushed Jenna. Maybe she didn't like Klaus, either. But if that was true, Jenna couldn't think of any reason why she would've been doing things for him.

"Now, Isobel, Katerina," Klaus murmured, breaking Jenna out of her thoughts. He looked to each of the other vampires in turn. "I don't want you going near our new guest until I tell you to, understand?"

They each nodded, apparently preferring to remain silent, though neither looked particularly pleased.

"Great. Now that _that's_ settled… Jenna?"

Reacting instinctively to the sound of her name from that voice, Jenna raised her head and locked eyes with Klaus. His pupil contracted and she knew she was in trouble.

"It's your turn to do the hiding in the bathroom thing. Tacky, I know, but this guy'll never leave if he knows you're here and I kinda need him to go deliver a message to Elena for me." He offered her a smile. "Oh, and one more thing: Make no noise at all until I tell you to. None. You, too, Isobel." Another smile was offered to the black-haired vampire as she met his gaze again.

Jenna was starting to get pieces of memory back, memories of having been compelled once before. This felt the same as then, with the exception of remembering everything she was currently being compelled to do. She had no choice but to slide off the bed and walk into the bathroom. Isobel followed, shutting the door behind them with a soft click. Jenna didn’t like being so close to someone who could so easily kill her, but she had no choice. She was a prisoner; she had no idea how long it would last or what Klaus had planned. The only good thing she could think of now was that at least she had vampire hearing. She could hear everything that went on in that room, including the witches entering.

"Nice body," a new female voice proclaimed, sending a pang of jealousy through Jenna. She could tell from the sounds Katherine had made walking around the room that this new voice and Klaus were nowhere near the other vampire. Thus, Jenna assumed this girl was talking about Klaus and thus her boyfriend's body. She wanted nothing more than to bang on the door and yell at the newcomer to keep her eyes and hands off him, but every time she thought about it, her throat closed up. So, she just sat down on the floor with her back against a wall and listened. She was lucky that Isobel wasn't saying anything to distract her, but they'd both been compelled into complete silence. They couldn't even talk to each other.

The witches' chanting creeped Jenna out, but the end result had to have been better than looking at Alaric and knowing the person in his body wasn't him. From the sound of it, Klaus would soon get his real body back and Alaric would be free. At least Jenna could rest easy knowing he would be fine.

That still didn't make it any easier for her to listen to Alaric, the real Alaric, breathe sharply inward; say Elena's name in that confused, frightened way; and then hit the ground in a dead faint. Jenna was up on her feet like a shot, banging her fists on the air in front of the door. Her screams were completely silent, as were her sobs, and everything hurt. But nothing worked. And she was forced to stay in that bathroom, as long as it wasn't in use, until Alaric had woken up in the morning and left.

Jenna wanted nothing more than to go with him, but she could only scream silently as she heard him walk away and out of the apartment. Elena… her niece was going to be heartbroken when she found out what had happened to Jenna and that thought tore Jenna up even further. When would all of this end? When would things be okay again?


	2. The Last Day

Alaric had to hope that whatever higher being existed had wanted him to live through this. Otherwise, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have made it back to the boarding house in one piece. Everything hurt for him. Somehow, he felt like he'd gotten the pounding of a lifetime, which was odd considering he was still alive at this point, to his knowledge anyway. He'd only felt the sting of death twice and he could remember both of those times. Granted, he had a three-day hole in his memory right now, but still…  
  
He stopped outside the front door and took a deep breath. He had a message to deliver and as much as he didn't want to put Elena in any risk at all, it was time to end all of this. He found Stefan and Damon in the entryway, one on each side and quickly raised his hands in surrender. They must have heard him coming.  
  
“It’s me!” he told them quickly, so they wouldn’t try to kill him on sight.  
  
“What’s going on?” Elena asked slowly as she and Elijah joined the mini-mob in the hallway.  
  
Alaric tried again. "It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go."  
  
"Prove it," Damon commanded from his other side, looking as cautious and uncertain as the others.  
  
Alaric glanced at the vampire, his mind racing. "Okay, uh…" He latched onto the first thing he thought of. To no one's surprise, it was about Jenna and Elena would be able to confirm it. “The night you heard Jenna and I in the kitchen, we ran into each other upstairs and I offered you our bowl of Chunky Monkey as an apology.”  
  
Elena crossed her arms over her chest. “And?” she prompted.  
  
Why did they always want the intimate details? “And I told you I was naked so I was just gonna go and then I left for Jenna’s room.”  
  
Elena nodded and glanced to Stefan. “It’s all right. He answered correctly.”  
  
"Why'd he let you go?" Stefan questioned, breaking up the awkward air that had fallen around them.  
  
"He wanted me to deliver a message," Alaric answered, glancing between Elena and Stefan. "The sacrifice happens tonight."  
  
Elena glanced behind her, to where Elijah stood, and then back at Alaric. Her expression was both afraid and determined. Alaric figured she knew what she was doing by now, and he was proud of her. She'd come a long way through all of this.

Stefan was the one to turn and head down to the main room. Sighing to himself, Alaric followed behind Elena, waiting to be told what to do and what he _had_ done. No one offered anything as they switched rooms.  
  
"Can I at least ask what happened?" Alaric questioned as everyone took places around the room.  
  
"You don't know?" Stefan asked, glancing at him with mild confusion.  
  
Alaric shook his head. "All I know is that Klaus was using my body.”  
  
"So, you don't remember anything that happened?" Stefan clarified, crossing between the two couches to occupy the other side across from Elena and Elijah.  
  
Alaric felt rather like he was being interrogated at court. "No," he answered honestly, staring at his hands to avoid their accusatory expressions. "It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later." Eventually, he glanced up to Stefan. "Katherine was there." Which he thought was interesting.  
  
"She's under compulsion," Stefan replied. "Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can."  
  
"Where is Damon?" Elena spoke up, glancing at Stefan.  
  
“If he’s not here, he probably went back upstairs,” Stefan answered. Elena nodded and stood up, probably going to find him.

"So what else did I do?" Alaric asked once she was out of the room.  
  
"Tried to kill Bonnie in front of Elena," Stefan responded. "That's why she and Jeremy aren't here. They're hiding out because Klaus thinks she's dead."  
  
"Wow…" Alaric breathed, looking a bit unhappy at that news. "Guess I missed a lot."  
  
Stefan nodded sadly. “Yeah. You really did.”  
  
“Where’s Jenna? Is she still at the house?”  
  
Another nod. “We didn’t want her to have to worry about everything that’s going on here on top of her thesis. She’ll be fine with John.”  
  
Alaric wasn’t really happy with that, but Stefan had a point. At least they could be sure Jenna would be safe at home for now. He was about to say something else, but he stopped, frowning. Stefan had frozen in place with a confused look on his face.  
  
"Stefan?"  
  
Stefan glanced at Elijah. "Damon," was his short answer before he sped off up the stairs.  
  
If Damon was doing something stupid, someone had to run interference. Figuring a bit of backup wouldn’t go amiss, Alaric stood and headed up after Stefan.  
  
Sounds of a fight greeted him as he ran upstairs and the first thing Alaric saw when he stopped in the doorway was the large wooden pole protruding from Stefan's stomach.  
  
"What the hell's going on?" Alaric demanded, hurrying into the room to help.  
  
"Get him out of here!" Elena yelled from where she sat on the floor holding Stefan upright.  
  
Alaric attempted to push Damon away. The vampire shrugged him off viciously, so Alaric threw his hands up in surrender, hoping Damon wasn’t going to be a dick and try to kill him while his ring was on Jackass Gilbert’s finger. Once Damon was gone and Alaric could assess the situation, he turned and headed down to the basement. Stefan needed blood and he needed it _now_. Once Alaric was sure Stefan was all right, he would head back around to see what Damon needed. Who knew what the vampire would do once he realized how badly he’d screwed up? And then Alaric decided he’d pay a visit to Jenna just to see for himself how she was doing.  
  


#

Even though Katherine and Isobel had been compelled to leave her alone, Jenna remained fearful of them, staying as far away from them as she could. Her hunger was intense, but all the blood bags were empty and the only human around was a witch. Plus, Jenna was trying to fight those new feelings, the ideas her body was urging her to act on. If she really was a vampire, she didn't want to be _that_ kind of vampire.

Maddox and Greta left the apartment early that day, and Klaus wasn't far behind them. Once everyone had gone to make final preparations for the ritual, Klaus left two last instructions for his three vampires: None of them could leave until he told them to and Isobel and Jenna were confined to the bathroom should anyone come to the apartment. Since all three vampires could hear everything in the building, obeying that decree wasn't much of a worry.

The door clicked shut and Katherine rolled her eyes. No one dared say anything until Klaus was out of the building.

"Thank God they're gone," Katherine muttered after a while, fishing around for something to drink.

Jenna glanced from her to where Isobel was sitting on the couch looking pretentious and snobby. Had she always been like that? Jenna's fear was incredibly heightened here and she wanted nothing to do with the other two women. Which was precisely why she was sitting across the room on the bed she'd shared with Alaric countless times.

"You need to call Elena."

Isobel's voice snapped Jenna out of her thoughts and she frowned. "What?"

The black-haired vampire stood from the couch and sauntered forward, looking serious. Jenna felt far more uncomfortable and worried than she already was. She curled her legs up under her in case she would need to jump off the bed in a hurry.

"Klaus wants to use one of us in the ritual," Isobel explained, stopping to lean against the counter. Katherine glanced at her, coming to stand closer to the door than either of her companions. "He won't use Katherine because he's angry with her."

Katherine flashed her a sarcastic smile.

"And someone will find Caroline and Tyler as soon as they find out about them. So that means it's either you or me."

Knowing what she did about Isobel, Jenna had a feeling she knew where this was going. Isobel wouldn't want to sacrifice herself, especially not for Jenna and Elena.

"Whichever one of us Klaus believes is most important to Elena is the one he'll kill," Isobel continued, putting feeling into her words that just served to confuse Jenna further. "You need to tell Elena to lie and pretend it's me."

Jenna just stared at Isobel incredulously. " _What_?"

Isobel rolled her eyes. "Elena needs you, Jenna. She's my daughter; you're her guardian. I'm trying to save your life. For her sake." She shrugged. "And for Ric, too. They both need you."

This completely contradicted everything Jenna had known about Isobel. She traded a confused and disbelieving look with Katherine, feeling better that at least the other vampire didn't understand Isobel's speech, either.

"I loved them both," Isobel continued, taking a few steps closer to Jenna. Her eyes looked misty, throwing Jenna's senses into a frenzy. What the hell was going on?

"I loved Ric so much. Leaving him… leaving Elena forever... were the two hardest things I've ever had to do. But I did them and now… it's my mistake to bear. Ric doesn't deserve to lose another woman he loves and Elena needs someone to be the mother I could never be. That's why I'm asking you to do this. She'll believe you. She won't trust me."

Jenna stared at her for a little while longer, trying to find what the point was in all this. "What's the catch?" she asked warily.

Isobel raised her hands in surrender. "There is no catch. Just call Elena and tell her to pretend to care about me. It's the only way to save your life."

Jenna thought the irony here was pretty thick. "So you think of my well-being now, after already kidnapping and turning me?"

"I tried to kill myself after I saw Elena so that something like this wouldn't happen."

"And why didn't you, then?"

Isobel didn't respond.

"She was compelled," Katherine spoke up from her corner, folding her arms over her chest with a look of annoyance on her face. "Klaus compelled her to kidnap and turn you to keep Elena alive and not to endanger herself until he told her to."

Jenna glanced from Isobel to Katherine, wary about how much truth they were actually telling her. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," Isobel answered with a shrug. "Think about it. What other choice do you have?"

And as much as Jenna didn't want to go along with something someone like Isobel or Katherine had suggested, she had to agree: she didn't have much choice and it did make sense. Knowing Klaus' compulsion would keep her safe from the other two, Jenna slowly got up and walked to the phone, muscles straining in preparation should she feel threatened. Once she reached the phone, she almost dialed the Gilbert House number, but caught herself just in time, dialing Elena's number instead.

"Hello?" Elena's questioning voice answered after a few rings.

"Elena? Are you alone?"

"Jenna?" Elena's voice sounded shocked, painfully so. "Oh my God, Jenna, where are you? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Are you alone?" Jenna pressed, reluctant to say anything that might endanger her position.

"I'm with Stefan, but yes," Elena answered quickly. "We're alone."

Good. Stefan could listen in and help, too.

"I need you to do something for me," Jenna told her, leaning against the wall as Isobel moved to take a seat on the edge of the bed. It seemed no one really wanted to be near the others; Katherine hadn't gone anywhere, but Isobel and Jenna had traded places and they were all three watching each other carefully.

"Anything," Elena responded instantly, sounding close to tears. "Can we come get you?"

"No," Jenna cut her off. Trying to explain ended in a closed off throat, so she pushed it aside and continued. "This is going to sound like the weirdest thing in the world, but you have to promise you and everyone else will do it."

"Of course," Elena agreed and Jenna was grateful for the intensity of her reply. "I'll do anything. I just want you to be okay."

"I'm fine," Jenna lied quickly, scooting straight to the matter at hand. "But Klaus wants to use either me or Isobel for the ritual tonight. She suggested that you all pretend to care more about her than me so Klaus will use her, thinking that her death will hurt you more than mine."

"What?" Elena gasped. Jenna could practically see the confusion on her face. "Isobel said that?"

"I know it sounds strange," Jenna continued, practically begging Elena to agree, "but it's the only way. I've already thought it through, and she's right. Klaus won't believe you have it in you to lie about something like this."

"But I don't know if I can."

"You can, Elena," Jenna coaxed her. "You've lied to me before. Just… pretend you're still trying to protect me, like you did all last year."

She knew it was kind of a low blow, but it seemed to get her point across.

Elena sighed. "Okay," she relented softly. "We'll try."

Jenna would have said something else, but the sound of someone heading up to the apartment forced her to swallow her words. She and Isobel reacted at the same time; the phone was dropped to the floor as they both sped to the bathroom and shut the door. Frustration mounted as Jenna heard Elena calling to her.

"Jenna? _Jenna?!_ "

"She can't answer," Katherine's voice explained calmly, as though nothing was wrong at all. "Someone's coming."

"What-?"

Jenna heard the phone click and knew Katherine had hung up on Elena. Damn it. At least Jenna had gotten her niece to promise to play along. The sound of the door opening brought her back to what was happening, and she pressed her ear as close to the bathroom door as she could.

"Look who's dumb enough to come back," Katherine commented.

Jenna traded frowns with Isobel. Alaric was there? Why?

"Well, somebody had to invite him in."

That voice made Jenna bang her fists on the air in front of the door again. She didn't want to be trapped in here while Alaric was standing out there.

"Damon? Would you like to, uh… come in?"

Oh great; now they'd be stuck in the bathroom all night. What the hell did Damon even want?

Jenna could hear shuffling feet inside the room, footsteps that weren't Katherine's, and figured Damon had made it inside the apartment.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Katherine demanded hotly.

"I gave you vervain," Damon told her. "Now I'm here to collect. I got it from here, Ric."

"You sure?" Alaric asked. Jenna tried beating her hands against the door again and got about as far as she had earlier.

"Yeah, only one of us needs to get blamed for this."

Blamed for what?"

"Get back to the house. Keep Elena from handing herself over."

Jenna tried again with the same results. Well… at least she knew Elena would be safe under Alaric's care.

"Get blamed for what?" Katherine asked as Alaric left.

"I need to know where Klaus is keeping his werewolf," Damon answered.

Jenna glanced at the uninterested Isobel with a frown, receiving a roll of the eyes and a shrug in return.

"Why?" Katherine questioned, voicing what Jenna wanted to know. "What are you going to do?"

"Dead werewolf equals no ritual," was the reply, making things click into place for Jenna. He was trying to protect Elena. Isobel rolled her eyes again and folded her arms over her chest.

"No. You can't interfere, Damon. Klaus will kill you and everyone you've ever met."

"I just need to delay this thing."

"No. No way."

It was Jenna's turn to roll her eyes as she slid down to sit on the floor. She just wanted this day to be over with.

"You should like this! It's gonna buy another month of your pathetic life."

"Riiiiight, except that I'm not the vampire he's planning on sacrificing."

What… Was Katherine planning on selling them out? Jenna noticed Isobel was also frowning, but she didn't stand up yet.

"What?"

"Yeah, he's got Caroline Forbes and Tyler Lockwood. Therefore, I'm in the clear."

Katherine sounded entirely too happy about that. Jenna tucked her knees up to her chin and sulked.

"And where'd you get _that_ idea?" Damon demanded.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey. I'm just trying to stay alive long enough to get myself out of here."

Damon paused for a while. Jenna found herself wondering what he was thinking.

"What if I told you Elena had vampire blood in her system?"

Again, Katherine voiced exactly Jenna's thoughts. " _What_?"

How was that possible? Why? Who had done it? Anger and worry bubbled up inside Jenna.

"Imagine how much fun that would be, competing with Elena for Stefan's love for, I don't know… _ever_."

Katherine took her time answering. "The tomb. He's got them in the tomb."

"Thank you."

Damon's footsteps had long gone before Isobel and Jenna dared step out of the bathroom and by then it was almost evening. Katherine was seething and the only things Jenna had to hope for were that Alaric and Stefan would keep her niece safe and that Elena would be smart and play her part as Isobel had suggested. The fact that Isobel had been the one to come up with the idea deeply concerned Jenna, but she couldn't see any way around it. This was her only chance. She just had to believe in her niece's ability and hope it would be enough to fool Klaus.


	3. The Sun Also Rises

“Where is she?”

“What?”

“Damnit, Stefan, _where is she_?”

Alaric’s sudden appearance from down the hallway as Stefan entered the boarding house caught the vampire off-guard.

“Klaus just came for Elena,” he answered with a frown, wondering why Alaric was so worked up about that. They’d known it was coming.

“Not Elena,” Alaric clarified, eyes blazing. “Where’s Jenna? I went to check on her and she wasn’t there. John said she hasn’t been home since yesterday.”

If John didn’t keep his mouth shut, sooner or later Stefan was going to make good on his original threat to turn him. Stefan sighed. Looked like he would have to explain.

“We think Klaus has her,” Stefan answered, wishing he had a better answer.

“What?” The look on Alaric’s face was akin to the one Stefan had worn when he’d found out what had happened. “Why haven’t you gone to get her yet? _Why are you still here_?”

He moved, but Stefan anticipated what he was going to do. Speeding forward, he grabbed the lapels of the other man’s jacket, pinning Alaric to the wall.

“We didn’t want to give Klaus any reason to believe Jenna meant anything to Elena!” the vampire explained. “It was her idea. She called Elena while we were out. She’s fine for now.”

Alaric just glared at him.

“I’m still willing to take you with me, but you have to follow my lead. Trust me, Alaric. I’m not going to get Jenna killed.”

He could see the defiance in Alaric’s eyes and understood it came from an overwhelming desire to protect the one he loved. Stefan had felt it many times for Elena. After a moment of staring, Alaric nodded and Stefan let him go.

“Come on. It’s time to end this.”

#

Jenna and Isobel’s sudden retreats from the main room were what alerted Klaus to the approach of someone else. Jenna didn’t bother paying attention, as she knew what was going on. Whatever Damon had done with Caroline and Tyler wouldn’t stop the ritual. She and Isobel were the back-up vampires. No doubt he had a second werewolf wandering around, too. The ritual would happen and there was nothing they could do about it.

Eventually, Jenna heard Klaus knock Damon to the floor. When he called for his vampires, Damon was in the middle of the room, out cold. Jenna didn’t pay much attention to him, as Klaus walked up to her and Isobel. They were given instructions on where to go while he went to fetch his werewolf.

“And hurry,” he added on as they left. “Don’t be late.”

Isobel rolled her eyes. Jenna didn’t say anything; she just followed the older vampire. She didn’t want to risk angering him. The silence between them wasn’t broken until they were far away from Klaus, deep in the woods.

“Remember what I told you,” Isobel spoke up.

“I won’t forget,” Jenna answered, voice tinged with irritation that Isobel thought it necessary to remind her.

It was easy to keep the plan in mind out in the woods, harder when she got her first glimpse of Elena in two days. She wanted nothing more than to speed forward and hug Elena close, but she caught herself. Barely. She had to play the part.

Elena almost did the same, but at Jenna’s quick head tilt toward the witch, she stopped, clearly trying to hold herself together. Jenna just prayed she would come through.

“Isobel,” Elena whispered, putting actual feeling into it as she stared at the two women. No one made a move - Jenna figured they were all worried about how much was too much in front of Greta - until Jenna finally moved to brush past Elena.

“I’m sorry, Jenna.”

The words almost didn’t reach her ears. The only reaction Jenna gave to Elena’s apology was a very slight shake of her head as she passed. They would talk later. Right now, the important thing was the ritual… and the witch looking through her spellbook behind them.

Jenna kept walking, afraid she would break down if she didn’t. She felt the fire leap up around her, turning sharply to be sure it wasn’t going to burn her. Isobel joined her while Elena was kept separate. They were trapped, effectively imprisoned until the ritual was complete. Jenna wanted to talk to Elena, reassure her niece, but she didn’t dare. She had to keep up the appearance. So, she sat down on the ground and tucked her knees up to her chin. She just wanted this whole thing to be over with.

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long. Greta appeared again, pushing a woman who had to be the werewolf in front of her. Jenna couldn’t help shivering as Elena pleaded with Greta to let them go, that witches were supposed to keep the balance of nature and her mother didn’t deserve that end. Even though she knew it was an act, hearing Elena defend Isobel cut Jenna to her core. She would never be able to explain how much it hurt to listen to.

The werewolf’s sacrifice was quick. Jenna scooted backwards in fear at the suddenness of it all, the clash of speed overwhelming her senses… and the sight of all that blood dripping from his hand making her feel both hungry and repulsed, as though her own body couldn’t make up its mind. So, she looked away so she didn’t have to watch.

The next step was the hardest of all. Jenna stood up, warily watching as Klaus approached the circle she and Isobel were inhabiting.

“Hello, lovelies,” he murmured, letting his eyes roam from one vampire to the other. “Normally, I’d only need one of you, but the other is insurance, you understand.”

His eyes flicked to Elena. Jenna resisted the urge to look at her niece.

“Isobel?”

The fire around them grew dim. Jenna didn’t dare move, unwilling to risk anything happened to jeopardize herself or Elena. Isobel walked forward, through the fire and out to where Klaus stood.

“Take care of Ric for me,” Isobel tossed over her shoulder. “Someone needs to.”

Jenna’s jaw tightened. Isobel sure knew what to say to cut the hardest.

“And Elena? …I did love you. I’m sorry I never got to show you.”

Jenna heard Elena’s answering sob, feeling anger well up inside her at her niece’s pain. No wonder no one had wanted her to meet Isobel before this. The woman was a bitch.

Isobel didn’t try to escape. She stood there in front of Klaus, willingly accepting her fate. Maybe she knew what she was doing, knew it wasn’t a choice anymore. Jenna watched as the stake was plunged deep into her heart, as Isobel shriveled up and died, and as Klaus turned to the final ingredient in his ritual.

“It’s time,” he told Elena, offering her his hand. She glared at him through the tears in her eyes and stood as the fire around her dimmed and went out. Jenna wanted to say something, anything to prevent Elena from going to die. She knew about the vampire blood in Elena’s system; she didn’t want this life for her niece, the one she’d been living for the last two days. But she couldn’t say anything, not if she wanted to keep Klaus from knowing what he’d done.

So, she looked away, not wanting to watch any of what was happening. She couldn’t see her niece die, not after she’d spent so long trying to protect her. Even though she couldn’t see them, she could still hear them. Her vampire senses still picked up the sounds of their footsteps and their voices. She heard the contempt in Elena’s voice as her niece told Klaus to go to hell. Through her tears, a small smile made its way onto Jenna’s face. Even faced with death, Elena was strong, stronger than Jenna had ever realized, and she felt pride welling up inside her at that thought.

The sound of Klaus digging his fangs into Elena’s neck caused Jenna to wince, squeezing her eyes shut and clapping her hands over her ears. Much as she wanted to stop it all, she couldn’t. This had to happen so Klaus would die. Only when Elena dropped to the ground did Jenna whirl around where she sat, unable to stay detached any longer. What she wanted was to see this whole thing end, to be sure it was over and that Elena’s body wouldn’t somehow be destroyed. The sight of her niece dead on the altar made the tears flow freely again. Jenna had to hold herself back with every ounce of willpower she possessed or she would have tried to attack Klaus for what he had done.

Bonnie’s appearance a moment later snapped Jenna out of her thoughts. Greta went flying to the side, knocked out by her fellow witch’s power, and Klaus soared in the other direction. Jenna couldn’t help scooting backwards as she heard someone drop down from the hilltop beside her. Stefan’s arrival meant a small measure of comfort for her and she crouched down next to him to wait.

“Here, Jenna, take these,” he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. Jenna glanced at his hand, wondering why he was handing her jewelry. “We got lucky. They’re lapis lazuli, the only two we could find on such short notice. I got them yesterday. Bonnie spelled them a few minutes ago while we were waiting. It’s going to be daylight soon, so we thought we’d get these to you as soon as possible.”

“Daywalking pendants?” she asked, taking the beautiful silver and blue necklace and bracelet. “Why two of them?”

Stefan shrugged. “Can’t be too careful.”

On some level, she thought it was a little excessive, but she knew he did have a point. So she nodded and clasped the chains around her as she watched what was going on around them. By now, Damon had picked up Elena’s body and was making his way over to them. Jenna wanted nothing more than to be by her niece’s side, but she didn’t dare move until Stefan said she could.

“Take Elena and Jenna and go,” Stefan instructed, as though he’d heard her thoughts.

“What about you?” Damon asked.

“I’m not leaving until he’s dead.”

Jenna glanced from one brother to the other. Stefan nodded to her. She took a deep breath and followed Damon’s lead, speeding off into the night.

#

Damon wanted to get Elena inside and comfortable as soon as possible. Jenna understood that, but she hung back. She didn’t want to deal with the tearful reunions just yet. She had things to mull over. Like how much she had failed Elena.

It seemed like a dream, like the last two days had never actually happened. The way her senses were working in overdrive reminded her of the truth: she was a vampire and Elena had died so that Klaus’ terror would be over. Isobel was dead, too, had died so that her daughter’s life might be better. What she’d said while they’d been in Alaric’s apartment stayed with Jenna, squeezing her until she thought she might burst with the swirling mess of emotions she didn’t know how to handle. She heard Jeremy and Alaric’s footsteps crashing up to the first floor and knew they were after Elena. They wouldn’t know what had happened, what Isobel had done. Jenna didn’t think she could face them. Not yet.

“How is she?” Jeremy asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Damon responded.

“What about Jenna?” Alaric questioned, the pain in his voice making her whole being ache.

“We couldn’t save her,” Damon answered.

“No…”

Jenna squeezed her eyes shut against the flood of tears again, trying to hold back the sobs.

“She’s around here somewhere, Ric. She didn’t die again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ll see. When she’s ready, she’ll come find you.”

When she was ready. Jenna made a mental note to thank him later. Someone else was coming outside, so she hid herself behind a tree until she could figure out who it was and if she felt like dealing with them.

“I know you’re out here, Jenna.”

The voice was soft, too soft for human ears to hear so far away. Jenna debated her options for a moment before finally stepping out from behind the tree.

“How did you know?” she asked, unsure if she meant her being a vampire or her being out here. She was nervous now, knowing he hated vampires. It would be just her luck to survive all of this only to die at his hands.

His expression was hard to read. “As soon as I heard that Klaus had you, I knew. What Damon said about not being able to save you only clenched it. Either you’ve got one of the Gilbert rings somehow or… you’re a vampire.”

“I didn’t ask for this, John.” How could he think that she was a monster just because of something she’d never asked for? “I never wanted to be one.”

“The choice was taken from you, I know,” he answered, finally looking away from her. “I’m not letting that happen to Elena.”

“What are you talking about?”

John paused before looking back at her, shocking Jenna with the depth of emotion swimming in his eyes. She hadn’t thought him capable of feeling that level of pain.

“Bonnie cast a spell before she left,” he explained slowly. “I know it won’t make up for everything that I’ve done… but I hope someday you and Elena can live better lives for this… and believe that I want the best for her.”

Jenna could only frown at him, not quite understanding what he was talking about. The sound of Elena gasping for breath distracted her for a moment. John’s collapse brought her attention back to him and suddenly Jenna knew. He’d given his life up for Elena’s. Tears slid down Jenna’s cheeks as she turned John over carefully, dusting him off. Closing his eyes, she arranged his body so he looked peaceful instead of broken. His sacrifice wouldn’t make up for everything, but her niece was alive because of him. That would never be forgotten.

“Jenna? Where’s Jenna?”

Elena’s voice rang out over the pain of the night, calling to Jenna through the haze over her mind. Jenna couldn’t deny her niece - and besides, she wanted to be sure Elena was really okay - so she stood up and headed inside.

“I’m right here, Elena.”

“Jenna?” Alaric and Elena called to her simultaneously. By the time she entered the room where they were all gathered, Elena was standing. She looked good for having just come back from the dead.

Not caring who was watching, Jenna hurried over, meeting Elena halfway for a hug that neither of them wanted to give up. The feel of her niece in her arms, solid and warm and not dead like Jenna herself was, brought more tears to her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Elena,” she whispered.

“No, no, Jenna, don’t,” Elena pleaded softly, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve protected you better. I’m so sorry, Jenna. For everything.”

Jenna was so overwhelmed by what she’d experienced over the last few days. All she could do was shake her head and pull Elena close again. Once they’d cried themselves dry, they parted again and Jenna noticed a distinct lack of people in the room. Damon and Alaric had disappeared. She figured they didn’t want to watch the women blubbering. Jeremy, though, took his turn at hugging his aunt. Jenna held onto him, thankful that nothing had happened to him while she’d been gone.

“John… _John_?!” Elena must have made her way outside.

“I’ll take care of it,” Jeremy told Jenna. She glanced at him and nodded, figuring he knew what had happened. So, instead of going to comfort Elena, she turned and headed for the room where she could hear Alaric’s footsteps tracing a pattern onto the wooden floor. It was strange to see him, the _real_ him. Last time she’d laid eyes on him, he’d been Klaus. But now… she could tell this was really him pacing the length of the room.

“Ric?” she called softly, afraid he wasn’t going to want to be around her anymore. She’d turned into the thing his crazy ex-wife had become willingly. What would this do to him?

He turned immediately to face her, worry etched into every line of his face. “Jenna… what happened? Where have you been?”

She couldn’t lie to him; he’d find out somehow. And she hated the idea of lying to him in the first place. No one needed to be kept in the dark like she had been for a year and a half.

“I’ve been at your place,” she answered honestly. “Klaus kept me there the whole time. He compelled me and Isobel to stay hidden and not make any noise when someone else was around. That’s why you never saw us.”

“But why?” he asked. “Was it just to hold you over Elena’s head?”

Jenna nodded, feeling the tears falling again as she gazed up at the pain on his face. She hated this, dreaded the response she knew he was going to give her.

“It was either me or Isobel, Ric,” she told him, her voice cracking with the full weight of what she was saying. “She devised a way to save me… and it worked. She sacrificed herself to save me.”

Ric looked as confused as she felt regarding the subject of Isobel. “Why would Isobel… Damon said you died…” He probably knew what this meant - he’d been in the know far longer than she had been - but she figured he was trying to deny it. She would have in his position.

“Isobel turned me when she kidnapped me.” Jenna’s voice was thick with the tears she was trying to hold back, failing spectacularly. “She fed me her blood, killed me, and took me to your apartment. Klaus… fed me your blood to complete the transition.”

The look of dawning realization on Alaric’s face told her he understood what she meant. “You’ve been a vampire for that long?”

She nodded. “I’m still trying to deal with it.”

“Jenna…”

For a minute, she thought he was going to keep his distance, and that he was repulsed by her. The idea just about killed her a second time. But then he took a few hesitant steps closer. She didn’t move, letting her eyes do the begging where her voice no longer could.

“When Stefan said Klaus had you, I thought I’d lost you forever.”

Clearly the idea was hurting him as much as it did her.

“I’m right here,” she whispered. He reached out a hand to touch her cheek and push her hair back, as though brushing his fingers through her locks would reassure him that she was okay.

Feeling her hair seemed to work. A moment later, he pulled her into his arms and both of them were choking on sobs. Jenna was just happy he had survived being used as Klaus’ vessel and that she had lived to see it.

The next few hours passed by both in a blur of motion and as slowly as if she had taken up watching molasses run. Elena was informed of John’s sacrifice for her. Bonnie and Stefan returned to announce that Elijah had taken Klaus and escaped. John and Isobel’s bodies were recovered, and funeral arrangements made. Because everything was such a secret ordeal, the actual burials were kept as quiet as possible. John would be buried in the Gilbert plot, next to Elena’s parents. Isobel would be taken to the plot of land in Grove Hill where her parents had already built a gravestone for her. Elena thought that was the best way of honoring her biological parents.

“I don’t know… how I feel,” Elena admitted as she looked over John’s grave. Alaric and Jenna stood beside her, with Stefan on her other side. Damon paced around the outside edge while Jeremy, Bonnie, and Caroline stood behind them. “I didn’t know who they really were for so long and when I found out, I hated then for what they did.”

Alaric’s arm tightened around Jenna’s shoulders. She leaned against him, taking comfort in his presence.

“But they were still my biological parents. And they died to give me a better life. This doesn’t excuse what they did… but maybe…”

Her voice trailed off and she sniffed hard against the flood of tears Jenna could hear in her voice. Jenna reached out to squeeze her niece’s hand gently, reassuring her that everything would be okay.

“Maybe I can learn not to hate them as much, maybe I can understand why they did what they did… And maybe someday… I can forgive them.”


	4. As I Lay Dying

After having endured a day of mourning and attempting to comfort Jeremy and Elena - as well as assure them both that she was okay - Jenna thought she’d be so tired that she’d fall right to sleep once she hit the bed. She hadn’t accounted for her vampire senses getting in the way. Every little crack, every disturbance could be heard now. It was disconcerting and kept her up for a long time, wondering if Klaus would come back for Elena. She spent half the night alternately trying to sleep, and failing, and sitting across the room while she tried not to give in to the instinctive desire to feed on Alaric’s unconscious body, thinking about Isobel. She kept a wooden stake clutched between her hands so she could stick it in her stomach if she started to lose control. Alaric being in her bed was nice, but she was terrified she’d hurt him.

The next day was spent with Stefan and Caroline, learning how to be a good vampire. That second night was a little easier to deal with - far fewer close calls between her fangs and Alaric’s neck - but she still slept late that morning. A knock at her door, followed by Elena’s good morning call and Alaric’s kiss to her forehead, finally convinced Jenna that she needed to get up.

“Do I have to?” she whined softly, stretching up so that her arms reached out to her boyfriend. She was trying hard not to let him know that she was still worried about Isobel. That was a conversation she didn’t want to have, not until she had a better grip on who and what she was now. Alaric chuckled gently, a sound that washed over and through her like a cleansing water, and leaned down to kiss her carefully.

“Come on, sleepyheads,” Elena teased through the closed door. “Time to get up.”

“Coming!” Jenna finally answered, wrapping her arms around Alaric’s neck and pulling him in for another kiss. Her emotions swirled, but she managed to hold back her vampire desires, feeling an odd sense of accomplishment as she did. She and Alaric got ready for the day, ignoring the conversation between Elena and Damon downstairs. She had other things to do today. And a long day it would be, full of thesis writing if she really got to work.

And she would have if Alaric’s phone hadn’t started buzzing about half an hour after Elena and Jeremy left for the school movie screening. Even across the kitchen, Jenna could hear every word spoken between Alaric and Stefan.

“Alaric, I need your help. Jenna’s, too, if she’s with you.”

Jenna frowned at Alaric as he glanced towards her and nodded.

“Sure, what’s wrong?”

“Damon’s dying.”

“What?” How was that possible?

“Tyler Lockwood bit him when he rescued them before the ritual.”

Alaric raised his eyebrows in Jenna’s direction. She understood his unspoken question about whether they would go or not and nodded a second time. Whatever was needed, they would help.

“What do you need?”

“Someone to watch over him in the basement, make sure he doesn’t try to get out or kill himself.”

Jenna nodded a third time.

“We’ll be there,” Alaric told Stefan and hung up.

Jenna could have gotten them there quickly, but they both thought it best to look and act as normal as possible. Just in case. The last thing they needed was a surprise visit from the sheriff. Stefan left as soon as they got there, saying something about going to help Bonnie. Jenna glanced at Alaric, who shrugged.

“Well… it’s time you really saw what goes on around here, Jenna,” he told her, leading her further into the unfamiliar house.

“What does that mean?” she asked, taking in the huge rooms and grand hallways. The place really looked like something out of an old period movie.

“You’ll see.”

He said no more on the subject, leading the way down into the basement. It was more of a prison than a basement, she saw, and just served to further prove to her the theory of the house’s age. At the far end of the hallway, Alaric stopped in front of a door with a small window. Jenna could hear someone groaning inside and figured this was where Stefan had locked his brother up.

“Well that looks bad,” Alaric commented bluntly. Seeing there was no real room for her to look in on the sick vampire, too, Jenna leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest as she listened for people upstairs. From what she could hear, Damon’s bite must have been awful.

“It feels worse,” the older vampire groaned. “My subconscious is haunting me. Tell Jenna not to get bitten. She doesn’t need this.”

Alaric’s eyes flicked over to Jenna. She raised her eyebrows in return. Message heard, loud and clear.

“So, my brother put you guys on suicide watch?”

“We’re just trying to help,” Alaric answered.

“He’s doing what he always does: trying to right the wrongs of the past.”

The coughing fits weren’t helping Jenna’s unease with the situation. She didn’t know why she was there, except that Stefan had asked and Alaric had brought her with him.

“You should want me dead,” Damon continued through his pain. “I’m the reason Jenna got killed.”

Jenna’s sense of foreboding skyrocketed and she pushed away from the wall. “Damon,” she warned. No one knew of her involvement in getting Katherine the vervain, and she’d wanted to keep it that way.

He kept going like he hadn’t heard her. “I know you’ll both say you don’t blame me for it, but you do. Admit it, Ric. I turned your wife into a vampire and now I’m the reason your girlfriend got turned and almost died for good. You can’t tell me you don’t hate me for that.”

Jenna looked away. Damon’s words brought back a multitude of thoughts she’d been keeping at bay except in the wee hours of the night, when she had nothing else to think about. She didn’t want to go over and over her memories of Isobel, what the vampire had told her while they’d been imprisoned, or what it all meant. A part of her wondered if Ric knew would he mourn the wife he lost again? Would he ever be happy with someone else?

“You know… I’m just gonna… go check on Elena and Jeremy,” Jenna spoke up. “I’ll stop by later.”

She saw Alaric turn back towards her, heard him protest, but she didn’t stop, breezing out of the house with speed only a vampire could manage. She had things to do, distractions to focus on instead of the lingering doubt, guilt, and inferiority that plagued her.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, that distraction came in the form of a call not twenty minutes later. Jenna had made it home, where she was alone with her thoughts and a bottle of scotch. Isobel kept spinning around in her head. She knew she’d need to talk to Alaric eventually, but she didn’t know how. The idea to tell him when he called sprang up, but she shoved it down. No need to get him more worked up than he already was.

“Ric?”

“Jenna, I need your help. Sheriff Forbes just came in and Damon’s escaped.”

“I’ll get on it,” she answered immediately. “Where’s Elena?”

“Not sure. I’ll call Jeremy, see if he knows.”

“Okay. Call me if you find anything. I’ll do the same.”

Hanging up, Jenna grabbed a jacket and tore outside, heading for the park where the kids were supposed to be. She caught the trail thanks to the officers she passed while there. They were talking in hushed voices at the edges of the crowd, but listening in, she could hear every word they said: Damon. Damon was at the Grill. Taking care to duck behind a tree in the dark where she wouldn’t be seen, Jenna sped off.

Other officers had the entrance to the Grill blocked when she got there. Jenna could sense the heightened emotions, knew instinctively what calm control was like, and knew something bad was happening. Likely it involved Damon. Shoving the deputies aside, she ran in. The scene before her was controlled chaos. Sheriff Forbes’ back was to her, gun pointed at Damon, who was slowly standing up. Behind him, Jeremy was on the phone with Alaric. And with one quick beat of the nearest human heart, Jenna saw what was about to happen before it did.

Not caring who saw her, only thinking of what would happen to Jeremy if anyone moved half an inch in any direction, Jenna sped forward. Liz Forbes fired, Damon disappeared, and Jenna took the bullet that would have killed her nephew. She heard Liz gasp, felt Jeremy drop his phone as his arms wrapped around her, and cried out in pain.

“Jenna?” Jeremy called out to her, trying to support her weight. “Jenna!”

“Ver…vain,” she choked out. “Wood…” The bullet had vervain on it and the resulting wound _burned_ beyond anything she’d ever felt before. Jeremy slid to the floor with her, unable to hold her dead weight. She could hear Liz running over as other people arrived. Alaric’s call was the first to cut through her haze.

“Jenna? Oh, God, Jenna!”

She could sense his appearance, knew his footsteps well by now.

“What happened?”

“I was aiming for Damon… I didn’t even see her until after I’d pulled the trigger. She just came out of nowhere.”

Jenna coughed, miming for someone to pull the bullet out of her shoulder. Eventually, Caroline managed it, though the relief wasn’t very quick in coming. Liz must have soaked that thing before she shot it.

“Jenna, you need to feed,” Caroline declared.

“She needs the paramedics!” Apparently, no one had told Liz what had happened two days ago.

Everyone ignored her.

“If I do… I don’t… know if I can stop.” That was Jenna’s ultimate fear. She didn’t want to kill anyone because she couldn’t stop.

“It’s okay,” Caroline reassured her. “I’m older. I’ll stop you.”

Jenna hesitated. She could tell how much her body was screaming for blood, to off-set what the bullet had done.

“Drink it, Jenna,” Alaric commanded, kneeling down next to her and taking Jeremy’s place by her head. “I almost lost you once. I’m not going to lose you again.”

In the end, Alaric’s pained voice was what got her nod of consent. She couldn’t bear to hear him use that tone. His arm was the one offered to her. Watching Caroline bite her boyfriend’s wrist so she could drink from him was the oddest sensation to Jenna, but she ignored it and sucked on the blood that was given to her. A few minutes later, after Caroline had pried her away, she felt good enough to sit up.

“Better?” the blonde vampire asked with a small smile.

Jenna nodded, trying to remember how to breathe. “Much.”

Alaric supported her attempt to sit up and she leaned against him, finally noticing that Bonnie was there, too. Liz was staring at Jenna as if she’d grown a few extra eyes.

“Is there anyone in this town who _isn’t_ a vampire?” the sheriff demanded.

Looks were traded among the group. Alaric, Jeremy, and Bonnie raised their hands.

“Mom, why don’t you and I go home?” Caroline coaxed her mother as everyone finally got to their feet. “We can have a nice little chat, okay?”

Liz ran a hand over her eyes and nodded. “Fine.”

She wouldn’t look at Jenna as Alaric helped the vampire to her feet and out of the Grill. Somehow that hurt Jenna, to see someone who had known her for her whole life, who had gone to school with her sister, avoid her so pointedly. But that was how it would be and she’d better get used to it. She would forever be second best to everyone.

#

Elena brought Damon back to the Salvatore house, helping him up to his room as best she could. She remembered how the bite had gone with Rose and she was apprehensive about how this one would work out. It had already gone into the realm of mistaking her for Katherine. What more would he do? So many people had died recently. She didn’t want to add another to the body count. Remembering how Rose had been, Elena grabbed a few packs of blood and a cool compress. Who knew how bad it would be for Damon?

To his credit, he did keep trying to get her to leave, but she wouldn’t. Somehow, it didn’t feel fair. So, she did what she could, mothered him mostly, and tried to make him as comfortable as possible. When would it end? Would she be forced to stake him so he wouldn’t suffer or would-

“Hey.”

Elena’s head jerked up. “Bonnie?” And Stefan was in the doorway with a giant smirk on his face. “What are you doing here?”

Bonnie held up a vial of red liquid. “We brought the cure. Probably pissed Klaus off, but we got it.”

“What?” Elena gaped. She hadn’t thought one existed.

“Klaus told Stefan what it was,” Bonnie explained, walking over to slowly pour the liquid - it looked like blood to Elena, but she didn’t understand how more blood would work now when it hadn’t before - into Damon’s mouth.

“His terms were that he’d give it to me if I agreed to do everything he said for the next ten years,” Stefan continued, finally moving into the room to sit at the edge of the bed. “I said no.”

“So he came and told me about it. He distracted Greta and I got the blood from him. Not really sure if he noticed, but I guess we’ll find out later.” Bonnie didn’t look too worried about this.

Elena had a lot of thoughts on the subject, but the foremost one was gratitude, immense gratitude. Everything else could come later.

“Thank you, Bonnie,” Damon murmured as Bonnie corked the vial.

“You’re welcome. Remember this next time you try to hurt anyone.” She sounded amiable, but Elena knew she was being serious.

He saluted her, making Elena grin. “Thank you, Bonnie,” she echoed. “I appreciate this and I know Stefan does, too.”

“I’m tired of you losing the important people in your life,” Bonnie answered with a genuine smile. “Now come on. Jenna wants to be sure you’re okay.”

#

The evening’s excitement while she’d been locked up in Sheriff Forbes’ office was explained to Elena, who was just thankful no one had died. Jenna’s wound had healed, Jeremy was alive. Even Damon was okay. Wherever Klaus was, he wouldn’t be able to ruin the sense of happiness and relief in the house.

Elena was one of the last ones in the kitchen that night. Bonnie had gone home and Jenna and Jeremy were already getting ready for sleep. She and Alaric were the only ones left.

“I’m gonna go upstairs, Alaric,” she told him, nursing a glass of water as she turned to leave. “Thanks for helping Damon and Jenna.”

“You’re welcome,” he answered. “Hey, Elena? Can I ask you something?”

She looked back at him, stopping almost in the doorway, and wondered what he needed. “Of course. What is it?”

He seemed to be trying to figure something out. “Do you know what happened with Jenna when she was locked up with Katherine and Isobel?”

A frown creased Elena’s face, the same one that always came over her when she heard something she didn’t like and was considering lying to protect someone.

“I thought everything was fine and then Damon mentioned Isobel and it was like she shut down on me. She wouldn’t talk when we got home from the Grill, either. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something is.”

Elena had a feeling she knew, but it wasn’t her story to tell. “I’ll see what I can do tomorrow,” she promised, thinking through ways she could get Jenna to talk. “Don’t worry about it. She loves you. She won’t leave you.”

But even as she turned to leave, she could tell he didn’t quite believe her. Maybe it was time to force Jenna and Alaric to talk things out. To her knowledge, they never had and it was past time they did. She wanted them to be happy, but they couldn’t be if Isobel still hung between them.


	5. He's the air I would kill to breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from "Breathe Again" by Sara Bareilles  
> One line shamelessly taken from TFLN because it was too perfect to pass up.

"Hey, you know what?" Elena spoke up the next morning as a quiet and subdued Jenna walked into the kitchen. Alaric wasn't far behind her; she could hear his footsteps following her.  
  
"Hm?" Jenna questioned, blinking up at her niece. She was still wary of the sunlight filtering through the windows of the house, but she knew her bracelet and necklace would protect her. Those thoughts of Isobel were still flickering through her mind, more so since yesterday, and she hadn’t slept well at all. As a result, she didn’t feel very talkative that morning.  
  
"You and Alaric need a break," Elena continued, glancing at Stefan as he entered the kitchen. "You two should go to the lake house. I'll let you in, Jenna, so don't worry about that. Stefan and Damon can watch out for me and Jeremy, and Caroline and Bonnie can help, too, okay? You guys just need time to yourselves."  
  
With the way Elena was grinning at her, Jenna wondered if this had less to do with her and Alaric and more to do with Elena and Stefan. But that begged the question of why Elena wouldn't have asked to go to the lake house herself with Stefan. Jenna had no idea.  
  
"Are you sure you're not trying to just get rid of the adults?" Jenna teased, managing a small smile.  
  
"No," Elena assured her, walking over to take her aunt's hands. "Seriously, you both could really use the time alone. Go have a good time. You'll feel better."  
  
Jenna glanced up at Alaric, who had stopped on the other side of the kitchen. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged at her.  
  
"It certainly couldn't hurt," he mused.  
  
Jenna sighed and smiled wryly as she shook her head. "All right, since you're so intent on getting rid of me."  
  
"Not getting rid of you," Elena countered, giving her aunt a tight hug. "I could never get rid of you, Aunt Jenna. I owe you so much."  
  
Jenna didn't quite believe that, but she held onto her niece as much as she could without breaking Elena anyway. She hoped someday she would get over these feelings of inadequacy and fear. Caroline had said they would go away eventually, but Jenna was starting to wonder.  
  
The rest of the morning was pretty quiet and soon enough Elena, Stefan, Alaric, and Jenna were stepping out of their respective cars and beginning to drag things inside the big lake house. Jenna stopped just outside, staring at the invisible barrier that prevented her from entering behind everyone else, just another reminder that she wasn't the same person she'd once been.  
  
"Jenna, I would like for you to please come inside," Elena invited with a grin.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Jenna stepped over the threshold of the lake house and headed inside the kitchen. A myriad of emotions swirled around inside her as she set things on the floor and turned to see Elena and Stefan off. Hugs and handshakes were passed around before Elena and Stefan left. Jenna felt strange watching them walk away. Standing in the doorway as she gazed out at the two people waving at her from the car, Jenna felt like a parent watching her child leave home for the first time. Alaric wrapping an arm around her shoulders only strengthened that feeling.  
  
"It'll be fine, Jenna," he murmured, as though he could tell that her thoughts had shifted to her sister.  
  
Jenna waved good-bye to Elena and Stefan until their car disappeared through the trees. She didn't answer even as she and Alaric stepped back into the house. Slowly closing the door, Jenna felt like she was shutting out another part of her life, like something had just died inside her, and she wasn't really sure how to feel about it.  
  
"I guess this is the part where we try to figure out what to do next," she murmured, locking the door and heading further into the room. She hadn't been here since her sister was alive and, really, she hadn't been here that often even then. The lake house had been a Gilbert thing, not a Sommers place, so the number of times Miranda had brought her kid sister could be counted on one hand.  
  
Not that Jenna really had any hard feelings about her sister. All joking, teasing, jealousy, and age issues aside, Jenna had truly loved her sister. Miranda's death had hurt her in ways she was still dealing with.  
  
"I guess Elena didn't have a chance to clean-"  
  
Jenna fell silent mid-thought as she stopped in front of the TV and her eyes took in a picture still sitting on the table next to it. She hadn't seen real, framed pictures of them in so long. All of the ones in her room had gotten moved as soon as she'd taken over. The idea of her sister and brother-in-law watching her sleep - and then sleep with someone - had always unnerved her, so she'd moved those as soon as possible. Seeing them back here made her feel the same sense of loss and it nearly knocked her over with grief.  
  
"Is this…?" Alaric asked quietly as he came to stand next to her. Reaching out to the picture, he picked it up to get a better look at Miranda and Grayson. They were standing just outside of the lake house. One held a toddler Elena and the other carried Jeremy. Jenna barely remembered those years. She'd been too young herself.  
  
"Yeah," she answered with a nod, pointedly looking away from the picture so she wouldn't start crying over a decade-old wound that would never heal.  
  
Alaric seemed to understand; he returned the picture to its place, but moved it so it faced the wall. Jenna heard him step closer and wasn't surprised when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders again.  
  
"So, do I get the grand tour while we're here or not?"  
  
That snapped Jenna out of her thoughts and she smiled in spite of herself. "Sure."  
  
She moved out of his embrace, starting with the kitchen. "My sister couldn't really cook, so Grayson did most of that. I only learned when I took over for Jeremy and Elena because it was either that or TV dinners and takeout all the time. Elena can't cook, either, and I wasn't really sure I wanted to trust Jeremy in the kitchen, especially after I discovered his fondness for the gas stove while high." She rolled her eyes at those memories. "I don't think he ever forgave me for ruining his fun there."  
  
"What, Jeremy used to play with the stove?" Alaric asked incredulously.  
  
Jenna let out a short laugh at the memory and nodded. "Back when he used to get almost as high as I did. I had to ban him from the kitchen after a while."  
  
Alaric laughed, shaking his head at that. "Wow. Never would've guessed."  
  
"Yeah, well, people change," Jenna murmured, showing off the rest of the downstairs before she spent too much time dwelling on things she couldn't control. "I did."  
  
She felt the reassuring squeeze against her arm, but didn't comment on it. It was probably meant to make her feel better about everything, but for some reason, she just felt antsy and anxious about everything. Caroline had told her that was normal and it would go away, but Jenna was having a hard time dealing with it anyway. It was one more thing on the pile of insanity she was working through.  
  
The upstairs was short and somehow she inadvertently ended the tour in the master bedroom, the one Miranda and Grayson had always occupied. Most of their things were still here from the last time they'd stayed here. Jenna had been in charge of cleaning everything out, but she could never quite bring herself to come out here to do it. Now that she was here, she realized she no longer had a reason not to and that made being there in that room so much harder.  
  
"I can tell whose room this was," Alaric murmured, moving past her through the doorway and into the room. Without saying anything else, he started collecting the pictures around the room, as though he knew what was bothering her. Within minutes, he'd managed to find all of them and turn them to face the walls. That simple move helped a lot of the tension drain out of Jenna and she breathed a little easier.  
  
"Thank you, Ric," she responded after a few moments. "It's hard enough looking at this room and not seeing them in it."  
  
"It still hurts, doesn't it?" he observed softly, moving back to stand in front of her.  
  
Jenna nodded sadly, trying not to think about _how much_ it ached. "I thought it might get easier after a few years, but I still miss her. Even though our relationship was strained at times… she was still my sister and I miss her."  
  
Tears started to fall. Before she could reach up to wipe them away, Alaric had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She rested her head against his chest and just held on.  
  
"It's hard, I know," he continued softly, speaking into her hair. "I wish I could say it'll get easier, but… it takes too long to feel true."  
  
Jenna nodded again, sniffling as she pulled back to look up at him. He would know about that sort of thing and the realization brought back a lot of her other feelings on the subject of death and coping and what her life had turned into.  
  
"Ric… does it ever _bother_ you that you're essentially dating and sleeping with a vampire?"  
  
The frown that creased his face was expected and she disentangled herself from his embrace so she could start picking up things and rearranging the room, including shutting the door. It felt weird to have it open. They'd never spoken about Isobel alone before and this topic had the potential to go down that route. She knew Isobel had wanted to be a vampire and could guess at why… Isobel's words hung like poison around Jenna and she wasn't sure how to make them go away.  
  
"I never imagined I'd ever fall for one," he admitted after a while. "But that was before the woman I'm head over heels for got turned against her will."  
  
She heard him move behind her, but made no effort to face him again. She averted her eyes as he stopped in front of her, unwilling to see what he was feeling just yet.  
  
"Jenna, I know something's bothering you," he continued, gently placing a couple of fingers under her chin to force her to look at him. "If it's the whole vampire thing, don't worry about it. I'm over that."  
  
Jenna sighed wearily, her mind on what had transpired back before the ritual, what had been said from one vampire to another.  
  
"Isobel said things," she answered finally, letting her eyes slowly move up to meet his. Somehow, Isobel could mess everything up for her without even being alive and she hated it.  
  
He didn’t seem surprised by this. "What’d she say?"  
  
"A lot," Jenna answered honestly. "She told me she was sacrificing herself to give you and Elena a better life and that she really loved you both."  
  
Tears were starting to stream down Jenna's cheeks again, but she had no idea how to stop them. Everything just hurt too much for her to deal with.  
  
"What else did she say?" Alaric pressed, moving to place his hands on her shoulders.  
  
Jenna shook her head, letting out a choked sob. She wasn't really sure how to go about explaining everything Isobel had said and how those words had affected her. But for Alaric, she'd try.  
  
"She apologized to both of us for what she'd done, for threatening us and being a horrible mother to Elena," Jenna began, reaching up to grasp Alaric's hands at her shoulders for comfort. "I think the reason she became a vampire was because she couldn't deal with the pain of having lost Elena."  
  
She took a deep, shuddering breath and finally managed to choke out what was really bothering her.  
  
"I don't want to be like her, Ric," she sobbed as she held onto his hands, squeezing them as though they were her anchor. "I don't want to remind you of her and I don't want to have anything to do with her. I hate knowing that I owe her my life and I'm so afraid I'll end up just like her."  
  
"Hey, hey. Jenna. Jenna, look at me."  
  
It took her a few minutes of concentrated breathing before she managed to bring her gaze back up to his, where his eyes were searching hers.  
  
"You are _nothing_ like Isobel," he told her firmly. "She wanted to become a vampire for all the wrong reasons and what she did when she got her wish completely negates anything she might have tried to say to any of us."  
  
Jenna's tears paused and she frowned as the implications of his words hit her. "'Us?'"  
  
Alaric nodded, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Before she turned me over to Klaus, she came to tell me that she loved me. And maybe she did at some point, but that time's long gone. The woman I married is dead. I wasted two years trying to find someone who had left me behind. She's gone… And now there's you."  
  
"Do you love her?"  
  
Somehow, the question just popped out before she could stop herself. His short, soft laugh made her frown deepen. What was so funny about any of this?  
  
"Jenna, asking me if I love Isobel is like asking you if you love that Logan guy you were telling me about when we first met."  
  
Okay, he had a point there. She looked down sheepishly.  
  
"She's not the same woman I'm in love with right now. If she came waltzing back into my life with her humanity fully intact again, I wouldn't think twice about it."  
  
Jenna had known that was coming. She pursed her lips to hide the pain creeping in again.  
  
"I'd still choose you."  
  
That brought her gaze back up and her lips parted on a confused intake of breath. Talk about unexpected.  
  
"I love you, Jenna," he continued, as she watched him for any sign of dishonesty. "I love you for reasons I could never have loved Isobel for. And I know you love me the way she never did. You wouldn't be here alone with me if you didn't. People at the Grill yesterday saw you take a bullet in the back for your nephew. Isobel? Threatened her own daughter. You are Jenna Sommers, the woman I love, and there's no one else I'd rather be here with right now."  
  
Jenna managed to choke out a soft, surprised laugh before Alaric leaned over and kissed her soundly. Her eyes widened for a moment before she gave in and returned the kiss. Maybe he was right. Maybe she could make this whole thing better than anything Isobel had been capable of.  
  
Without even asking, Alaric shrugged off his jacket and began gently pushing Jenna back towards the bed. She decided not to fight him, just needing the time alone with him and the comfort his closeness had always provided. Whatever this was, whatever they had, she wanted to make it special… wanted to make it work. How anyone could ever willingly give up this man was beyond her.  
  
"And you know," he murmured pulling back just enough to look at her as her legs hit the side of the bed, "I think it's a win-win situation here. I protect the kids for a few hours and then I get to sleep with their aunt. I know deep down I'm helping them both."  
  
A mixture of feelings churned around inside Jenna, not the least of which involved being indignant at his choice of words. She punched his shoulder for that one, earning a laugh from him. Despite everything, she couldn't help laughing with him as he took possession of her lips again.  
  
She took a deep breath and pushed her worries aside. Alaric loved her and she loved him more than anything in the world. As she flopped back against the mattress and he climbed up beside her, she couldn't help feeling extremely fortunate. She was lucky to have him, lucky they'd managed to work things out. Nothing but the truth stood between them anymore and that wasn't as much of an obstacle as it was encouragement. They could make this work and Jenna could find a way to not be useless.  
  
For right now, though, Jenna focused on what she and Alaric were doing. He was the most important part of her life at that moment and her entire weekend would revolve around him.  
  
They were officially in this together.  
  
For better or for worse.


End file.
